Japanese sailors said that for theirhistory people built the three largest and at the same time the most useless things: the pyramids at Giza, the Great Wall of China and the battleship Yamato. What is so deserving of this ironic attitude to this majestic warship, the pride of the Japanese ship industry and the flagship of its navy?
The idea of creating
The battleship Yamato was a product of the experience of sea battlesFirst World War. Then, not only in Japan, but throughout the rest of the world, it was believed that only heavy weapons and armor of battleships were able to ensure dominance at sea. On the wave of success in the Russo-Japanese War, the Admiralty of the Land of the Rising Sun believed that the Japanese fleet was able to withstand any adversary, even an industrial giant like the United States. However, there was also an understanding that the island’s industry would never be able to deal with the American one, which means that the numerical superiority would definitely not be in favor of the imperial fleet. In order to level the numerical advantage of the enemy, it was decided to focus on qualitative superiority. According to Japanese strategists, the carrying capacity of the Panama Canal limited the displacement of ships passing through it. This means that the US battleships could not have a displacement of more than 63,000 tons, a speed of more than 23 knots, and the most powerful armament could consist of only ten guns of a caliber not more than 406 mm. Rightly believing that at equal costs, increasing the ship’s displacement would significantly increase its combat power and thereby compensate for the numerical superiority of the enemy, the Japanese planned a series of superlinkors, of which the Yamato battleship was to be the head.
Great plans
Construction of the newest battleships should have beenstart no later than 1936. In total, the first series was planned for seven ships, armed with nine 460 mm guns, with armor that can withstand a hit of 406 mm projectile from a distance of 20 km and a speed of more than 30 knots. By 1941 it was planned to transfer them to the fleet. Then followed the construction of four more giants, but with implements of 20 inches (~ 508 mm). They were supposed to be commissioned in 1946, and until 1951, the previously built battleships were re-equipped for new powerful tools. The implementation of this plan, according to Japanese experts, made it possible to maintain at least parity with the US Navy in the Pacific. But in reality, only four ships of the series were laid, and only two of them were built - the battleship Yamato and the battleship Musashi; the unfinished hull of the third was converted into the aircraft carrier Shinano, and the fourth did not even get a name. Both ships reached full combat readiness for 1942.
Fighting career
When the battleship "Yamato" became the flagshipthe imperial fleet, the war in the Pacific has already reached its apogee. And the Japanese fleet achieved all its grand victories at the expense of naval aviation, and by no means in the shootings of battleships sailing in the wake column. Superlinkor simply did not have a place in the new war, and their fate was obviously sad. Having taken part in several combat operations of the fleet, the Yamato (battleship) could not demonstrate its qualities anywhere, and practically was just an expensive floating headquarters.
The death of the battleship "Yamato"
April 7, 1945 the ship went to hislast hike He was attacked by 200 aircraft of the Americans and within a two-hour battle he received 12 heavy bombs and about ten aircraft torpedoes. Then sank along with 2498 sailors and his commander.
